Single-cell RNA sequencing of adult Drosophila ovary identifies transcriptional programs governing oogenesis

ABSTRACT: Using single-cell RNA sequencing technology, we have built a comprehensive transcriptomic dataset for the adult Drosophila ovary and connected tissues. A total of 429,855,892 reads were obtained with 28,995 mean reads per cell for the final dataset of 7,053 high-quality cells containing an overall 11,782 genes. Using this dataset, we identified the transcriptional trajectory of the entire follicle cell population over the course of their development from stem cells to the oogenesis-to-ovulation transitioning phase in the Corpus luteum. We further identify expression patterns during essential developmental events which take place in somatic and germline cell types such as differentiation, cell-cycle switching, migration, symmetry breaking, nurse cell engulfment, egg-shell formation, and corpus luteum signaling. Extensive experimental validation of unique expression patterns in both ovarian and non-ovarian cells also led to the identification of many new markers specific to cell-type and stage. The inclusion of several nearby tissue types in this dataset also led to our identification of functional convergence in expression between distantly related cell types such as the immune-related genes which were similarly expressed in immune cells (hemocytes) and ovarian somatic cells (stretched cells) during their brief phagocytic role in nurse cell engulfment. Taken together, these findings provide new insight into the temporal regulation of genes in a cell-type specific manner during oogenesis and begin to reveal the relatedness in expression between cell and tissues types.

ORGANISM(S): Drosophila melanogaster

PROVIDER: GSE146040 | GEO | 2020/03/27

REPOSITORIES: GEO